Tipping extra cash in MDR

[weltek]

I'm sailing a mainstream mass market line that uses auto-gratuities and I happily pay them. The crew influences our enjoyment so much, so we like to tip extra here and there. It's easy to give extra tips to bartenders and waiters in specialty dining venues, as we always have some sort of bill/folio to tuck some cash into or tuck it under a coaster. And stewards I can leave cash and a note in my room for them.

But in the MDR, if I have a great server I want to give something extra to, it feels a little weird to leave cash on the table. Do others do that?

[navybankerteacher]

Ordinarily if you have a great server, you will interact with him/her regularly.  The last evening it should be easy to slip him/her an envelope with some cash in it - perhaps also a note.  You should also take the time to fill out a comment card and turn it in.

[lenquixote66]

We have been cruising since 1973 and have yet to have a bad Waitress or Waiter.We always give an envelope to them.On my last cruise I have wonderful service from a Head Waiter and gave him an envelope as well.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree...always give extra directly,  in person. 

[Tonsoffun44]

Personally bring a few small envelopes for this but usually hand directly to them after final night dinner. All cruises we've been on the MDR staff pretty much has gone around saying goodbye - that's when we give it to them. 

[DirtyDawg]

And if the OP does not have any envelopes at home they can buy some from Amazon. Just look under the horse and buggy section right next to the 8 tracks and the platform shoes. 😉

[rkacruiser]

Other than for the post just above, I do the same as others who have posted.  If I am in open dining when the Stewards are not the same each evening, I do not leave a tip, but, try to verbally thank them for their service.  It would not be inappropriate to do, if one wished.  Handing the cash directly to them probably would be a better idea than just leaving it on your table.  

Edited July 14, 2022 by rkacruiser

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Agree...always give extra directly,  in person. 

Yes, and also be discrete.  Slipping somebody a folded-up bill is pretty easy and avoids the chance of causing some difficulty for the crew member (others might want him/her to share).    

 

Hank

[ldubs]

I've always been able to get envelopes at guest services.  

[Toofarfromthesea]

2 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

And if the OP does not have any envelopes at home they can buy some from Amazon. Just look under the horse and buggy section right next to the 8 tracks and the platform shoes. 😉

 

in my experience the Customer Service desk people are happy to give you appropriate envelopes

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

in my experience the Customer Service desk people are happy to give you appropriate envelopes

That has always been our experience on Princess.  When we first started cruising our servers and steward asked us to put our name and cabin number on the envelope to ensure that they were allowed to keep the entire tip.  I gathered it had to be confirmed that we had not removed the 'recommended' gratuities.  I don't know if that is still the case, but we still do that and include a short thank you note.

 

In the past Princess also had commendation forms passengers could complete.  Now Princess sends passengers an on-line survey after the cruise that includes a section about staff that made your cruise special.  Complete it with the name, position, location, and a sentence or two for every staffer you wish to commend.  We've been told numerous times that commendations can earn them anything from extra time off to better locations to promotions. 

 

I would expect that most cruise lines that do not automatically include gratuities have similar processes for tips and I would hope all cruise lines have a process for commending staff.

 

[cruiserking]

You can get an envelope from the reservations desk or else just hand some cash to your servers on the last evening. 

 

Jonathan

[Elaine5715]

On 7/14/2022 at 5:17 PM, Hlitner said:

Yes, and also be discrete.  Slipping somebody a folded-up bill is pretty easy and avoids the chance of causing some difficulty for the crew member (others might want him/her to share).    

 

Hank

Team members always share.  You don't hose your own team members unless you want to be a pariah 

[Hlitner]

16 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Team members always share.  You don't hose your own team members unless you want to be a pariah 

Well, in that case teams are generally paid by the team owners.

[Elaine5715]

10 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Well, in that case teams are generally paid by the team owners.

? ?  Each table in the dining room has a team and assigned tasks within that team.  Guests who take to one member and give them something extra should be pleased to know that crew member has integrity. 

[navybankerteacher]

10 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Team members always share.  You don't hose your own team members unless you want to be a pariah 

“Always” is a judgemental term.  If someone gives two envelopes - one to the waiter, the other to the assistant waiter, are you insisting he is wasting effort by not giving just one envelope?

[Nebr.cruiser]

We always do some version of Anytime dining, so normally don't have the same waiters.  Once in a while, though, even in Anytime, we get the same serving team several times.  If they have been great--go above and beyond,--we will give a cash tip on the last night--handed to them personally, not just left on the table.  

 

We always leave auto-tips on as well.

[DirtyDawg]

When we give an extra tip envelope at the end of the cruise I just give one to the head waiter for our table and tell him/her it's for the team. I don't know if they always share it or take all the tip for themselves. Do I care? No, it's not my job to police the tip distribution. If it is not shared, that's between the team members, the head waiter and the HR department of the cruise line. Now, if they want my advice on how to to organize and police tipping on their cruise line,I'd be happy to do it. My hourly consulting rate is quite reasonable compared to the big firms.  Or perhaps a 2 week cruise in a suite for two for each 40 hours of work. Very reasonable indeed. 😉

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

When we give an extra tip envelope at the end of the cruise I just give one to the head waiter for our table and tell him/her it's for the team. I don't know if they always share it or take all the tip for themselves. Do I care? No, it's not my job to police the tip distribution.  …

Because we always leave the auto tip in place, any additional tips are intended for INDIVIDUALS who have provided superior service:  leaving it to a team member to allocate it seems to miss our purpose.  I prefer to give individual recognition.

[DirtyDawg]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Because we always leave the auto tip in place, any additional tips are intended for INDIVIDUALS who have provided superior service:  leaving it to a team member to allocate it seems to miss our purpose.  I prefer to give individual recognition.

Wonderful. You tip extra how you want to and I will tip extra how I want to. Isn't free will great!

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[navybankerteacher]

8 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

Wonderful. You tip extra how you want to and I will tip extra how I want to. Isn't free will great!

 

My way does seem to make more sense - as long as you are giving extra for better than average service.  If the point is just to give more money, why not save the envelope and stop at the desk to increase the auto tip?  At least that way you would not be relying on the person to whom you give the envelope to share your largesse.

Edited July 19, 2022 by navybankerteacher

[DirtyDawg]

Just now, navybankerteacher said:

My way does seem to make more sense - as long as you are giving extra for better than average service.  If the point is just to give more money, why not save the envelope and stop at the desk to increase the auto tip?

Your way may make more sense to you but your way makes less sense to me. I learned long ago that no one is an island. In employment situations we almost always work in and depend on teams of other people to achieve our goals.  When I was a portfolio manager managing pension and mutual funds I got the credit, or the criticisms, because I was the customer facing head of the portfolios and the final decisions were mine to make. But I could not have succeeded as much as I did without my analysts, the people in the back office verifying trades, the fund accountants doing all the accounting functions, the sales reps selling the mutual funds, etc, etc, etc. I have experienced the same when I moved over to University teaching.The team is not a big as before but my TA's, the Publisher Reps, and lots others all are part of the team delivering the high quality service to our students.(I rank really well in student and peer surveys 😉). But again, I could not do that without our team. 

 

So, I will tip the head waiter for example and ask him/her to distribute it among the team members who helped him/her deliver the outstanding service. 

 

As for stopping by the customer service desk. Perhaps I want to tip the wait staff more but I don't want to tip the cabin steward extra. So blindly increasing auto tips is not a practical approach. Also, those places can be zoos.  I'm not going to waist my time going there. I'm on vacation. 

 

Your way is not wrong, but it would be wrong for me. So keep doing what you are doing. I'll keep doing what I do. Have a great evening. 

[Billish]

5 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

As for stopping by the customer service desk. Perhaps I want to tip the wait staff more but I don't want to tip the cabin steward extra. So blindly increasing auto tips is not a practical approach. Also, those places can be zoos.  I'm not going to waist my time going there. I'm on vacation. 

Also worth pointing out that on some cruise lines, eg Princess, the autotips are pooled amongst the fleet, not just the individual ship. Increasing the autotip will therefore have only a miniscule impact on crew remmuneration.

[sparks1093]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:13 AM, navybankerteacher said:

Ordinarily if you have a great server, you will interact with him/her regularly.  The last evening it should be easy to slip him/her an envelope with some cash in it - perhaps also a note.  You should also take the time to fill out a comment card and turn it in.

Exactly this, especially mentioning them by name in your comments.

[sparks1093]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:14 PM, rkacruiser said:

Other than for the post just above, I do the same as others who have posted.  If I am in open dining when the Stewards are not the same each evening, I do not leave a tip, but, try to verbally thank them for their service.  It would not be inappropriate to do, if one wished.  Handing the cash directly to them probably would be a better idea than just leaving it on your table.  

I have seen the "don't leave it on the table" comment numerous times in numerous threads so I'm not singling you out, but it does raise a question. When we at a land based restaurant we always leave the tip on the table and presumably many others do as well. Why the hesitation to do so on a ship?